Many real estate agents get into building a web presence by accident or without a real plan. That’s the way it was for me anyway. When I first wanted people to find me on the internet for real estate I spent a lot of time at sites like Active Rain and especially the forum on Real Estate Webmasters linking to pretty much every site that was mentioned, creating profiles many places and submitting my site and information to directories including local search on Yahoo and Google.
One thing I may have been tempted to do when I did not know any better might be to create multiple accounts to promote myself or my website. To do this is spammy and not something that search engines approve of or website users find useful. Sometimes when people aren’t really organized they end up creating multiple accounts on accident – sounds like that’s what happened recently to a Denver SEO firm. Over time it is easy to forget what directory you have already submitted to.
I do know that to build a strong web presence takes time and short cuts might work for a little while but may also lead eventually to a penalty. For instant results, there is always pay-per-click.
Guess it goes back to the idea that site owners who are doing a lot of work themselves on their own sites should think about a strategy as if they were paying someone else to do their SEO. I know I need to be more organized about how many posts I write a week and how many new pages I make for my websites. Creating good consistent content is good both for visitors to my site and is what search engines want to see as well.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I couldn’t agree with you more. In an effort to increase your search engine rankings, it is easy to make mistakes that will actually cause you to lose your ranking. The best route is to create useful and interesting content that your readers enjoy and the search engine rankings will follow.
I’m with you – I’ve been tempted to set up multiple Google Local accounts — it makes sense because they allow it! But it’s still not right.
A lot of my clients want SEO consultation so they can do it themselves — I fully support that, but so often that means that they will end up keyword stuffing their content and meta tags, and not really understand the subtleties of SEO.
It’s not easy! I’ve got my main business website where I want it, but I’ve been working on a few other sites and blogs with very slow results.
At least it seems like the issue has been resolved by the owners of the site but I really think it is dangerous to ‘flame’ others in a public forum.
Basic SEO really isn’t that difficult, but most people have no time for it or think it is too technical. Blogging might be the best way to get started, but again, people don’t think they have the time for it.
Eric Blackwell is my seo coach and he recommends just writing good quality non spamming content. And for commenting on blogs he says just to participate in the conversation. I highly urge anyone to try Eric for seo coaching; he is great.
Hi Carolyn, Good notes here… Much like yourself I have to use lists for practically everything I do if I want to make sure I get it done right. SEO doesn’t require a huge investment, unless you’re working with a top-tier agency that charges an excessive amount of money to have a new hire learn how to do SEO at your company’s expense in time and wasted resources.
No matter what web-related forum I visit, I always find someone posting about a “quick” way to get top rankings. Sometimes they work for a day or maybe even a week.
I keep telling people that if it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. A program that automatically gets your link inserted somewhere is more than likely breaking some rule, and you’ll pay for it later.
Of all of the virtues a good SEO must possess, patience is probably the most important.
Hi Carolyn, I’m curious if you have a set schedule for doing your SEO or you just “wing it”. I also love the REW forums but I tend to just read them rather than commenting or doing anything active about my SEO.
I am trying to come up with a plan which would be to block out a certain amount of time for:
adding pages to my website
blogging on my integrated blog
blogging on other blog forums, e.g. REW or AR
directory submissions
article writing
commenting on other blogs
How do you suggest I start? It seems so overwhelming!
Patience is everything.
I try to comment on other real estate blogs every morning and write at least one article a week.
I think we’ve all made mistakes at first as its hard to know just what to do and some advise may not be sound. When in the end, what Eric Blackwell recommends is really the answer. No ‘secret’…just write good content and do your best to help your clients and it pays off.
Blocking time on a consistent basis is challenging….there needs to be a few more hours in the day!
I’ve had good success with my main real estate website, but my newer blogs are sure going slow on the ranking.
It seems like every day there is something new to do. My husband had done all of his own SEO work from day one and it seems as though it is always changing. We just have to go with the flow!
I agree. My current site is my 4th. On the first three I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. The three biggest things I learned are
1) Make a plan about what you want your site to do and what you want visitors to do when they get there
2) plan your pages and their content ahead of time. Don’t wing it.
3) Be patient on the climb for ranking
Things I wish I knew before I started my current site
1) I wish I had understood PPC and google analytics better. Understanding there are at least 88 ways that people type in what is essentially Olathe KS homes for sale, but the majority of people, like over 90% type it in just 3 ways. I would do something differently.
2) Remembering some statistics earlier. For instance, a 1,067 (or so) clicks give you a result with about +/- 3% accuracy. Good thing to know.
3) plan plan and plan some more. I am sure the next incarnation of my website will be even better.
Thanks for sharing. All the best.
Ken
unless you have SEO intentions, it’s pretty hard to get penalized. if you contribute to blogs in a relevant manner, write articles and create content, you’ll be good to go. when you start using those services who have their “robots” doing all the work for you is when you get in trouble.
If your comments are relevant and doing things for the right reason, you are right, chances of getting penalized are pretty low, but doing things like using your keyword as your blog comment name is in my opinion spammy and having several friends who have had their sites penalized is something I do take seriously. I almost did not approve this comment because I personally do not like people using keywords for their user name.
SEO is like dieting…there are no quick fixes! Seriously though, SEO really *is* like dieting. So many people want and expect instant results when they start blogging, writing articles, or submitting to directories. But, in my opinion, unless you learn good SEO habits and meticulously incorporate them into your lifestyle, it’s hard to achieve really long-lasting results (top search engine rankings).
One other thing that I have started doing, and it seems simple once I explain it, is making a simple chart in Excel. I have one list of my different blogs listed at the top of the page. Then the dates running top to bottom. Then fill in what I blogged about on a particular day in a particular blog so I don’t end up putting similar content on the same blog. I space out my posts of, for example, the different cities or targeted subdivisions so the data has changed and there is something new to say about it.